Columbus Blue Jackets at Chicago Blackhawks

The Blackhawks are 16-3-2 versus Columbus since 2011-12, including 9-1-0 at the United Center. The Blue Jackets' only victory in the Windy City in that span came on March 27, 2015, as Cam Atkinson registered a hat trick in a 5-2 Columbus victory.

After scoring 17 goals in a four-game winning streak, the Blue Jackets were blanked at home by the Islanders on Thursday, 3-0. Since December 31, Columbus has yielded one power-play goal in 18 games, killing 41 of 42 opposition chances (97.6 percent).

The Blackhawks ran their home winning streak to five games and their home points streak to seven (5-0-2) with a 5-2 home win over the Devils on Thursday. In the team's last five games, Chicago has outscored its opponents by an 11-4 margin in the third period and 1-0 in overtime.

The Blue Jackets are a Josh Anderson goal away from having four 20-goal scorers this season; Anderson would join Cam Atkinson, Artemi Panarin and Pierre-Luc Dubois as Columbus skaters who have reached that plateau. San Jose, Calgary and Tampa Bay are the only teams with as many as four 20-goal scorers.

Patrick Kane was held without a point in this year's Winter Classic; Kane has scored a point in every other game he has played since December 16 -- that's a streak of 23 straight indoor games with a point. Overall, Kane has points in 16 consecutive contests, with assists in 15 straight.

Since the June 2017 trade that sent Artemi Panarin to Columbus and Brandon Saad to Chicago, the Blue Jackets have gotten far more production from Panarin than Saad has provided Chicago. Over the last two seasons, Panarin has notched 49 goals and 146 points, while Saad has put up 37 goals and 69 points.

The Blackhawks just bounced back after the end of a winning streak, and now the Blue Jackets will try to do the same from their own streak-breaking loss when Columbus visits Chicago on Saturday night.

Columbus had won four consecutive games before suffering a 3-0 blanking at the hands of the New York Islanders on Thursday. While the Islanders arguably have the NHL's best defensive team, Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones felt his team's biggest problems were self-inflicted.

"I think for a lot of minutes, we kind of played into their hands for the most part," Jones said. " 1/8We 3/8 tried to do too much and get a little too cute in there instead of putting it behind them and trying to go to work down low where we're successful. We kind of did that to ourselves a little bit."

The Blue Jackets' third shutout loss of the season ended a nice offensive run for the team, which scored 17 goals over its previous four games.

There is an opportunity for the Columbus offense to get back on track against the Blackhawks, who rank at or near the bottom of the league in both goals allowed and shots allowed. Chicago, however, has allowed just 28 goals over its last nine games, a stretch that has seen the Blackhawks go 8-1-0 with 45 goals scored.

After the Blackhawks' seven-game winning streak was ended in a loss to Boston on Tuesday, Chicago rebounded for a 5-2 win over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday.

As good as the Blackhawks have been lately, Patrick Kane feels his club "can definitely play better" than it did against the Devils, citing a slow start that saw New Jersey jump out to a 2-0 lead.

" 1/8We can 3/8 play with the puck more, play with the attitude that we want the puck up there," Kane said. "We want to make plays, and we want to keep the puck as well. It's a little sloppy out there sometimes but we'll take the two points."

After notching a goal and two assists on Thursday, the scorching-hot Kane now has a 16-game point streak, with 35 points (12 goals, 23 assists) going back to Jan. 3 against the New York Islanders.

The Blackhawks have alternated between goaltenders Cam Ward and Collin Delia over their last seven games, with Delia due to start against Columbus if the pattern continues. Ward, however, is 5-0-0 with a .943 save percentage and a 2.17 goals-against average over his last five starts.

Sergei Bobrovsky has started eight of the Blue Jackets' last nine games, which could be interpreted as Columbus showcasing the goalie prior to the trade deadline, or a sign that the team will keep Bobrovsky for a playoff run.

Bobrovsky is probable to play again against Chicago, as backup Joonas Korpisalo (who has less than 59 minutes of ice time since January 19) could see action next week when Columbus plays two sets of back-to-back games.

The Blackhawks have won their last five games on home ice going back to Jan. 20. The Blue Jackets are 17-9-1 on the road this season, although they are just 1-8-1 in their last 10 trips to Chicago.